Over the last five years Regional Justice Center have become an unstoppable force.

Led by vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Ian Shelton, the band have earned their reputation as one of the most exciting bands in modern hardcore through a steady stream of unrelentingly intense music, exhaustive touring, and Shelton‘s confrontational-yet-thought-provoking lyrics. The Los Angeles/Seattle-based group are announcing their eagerly anticipated sophomore full-length, ‘Crime And Punishment’, due out March 5th from Closed Casket Activities. Produced/engineered by Taylor Young at The Pit Recording Studios, ‘Crime And Punishment’ ramps up RJC‘s vicious blend of aggression and speed, and pairs it with Shelton‘s most unflinching writing to date. To mark the announcement RJC has shared two new songs from the album, ‘Absence’ and ‘Inhuman Joy’. The tracks offer a taste of the escalated dynamics found on ‘Crime And Punishment’ -the former a blast beat-laden hardcore stomp and the latter a churning dirge of distorted bass with Shelton‘s vitriolic roar asking, “do you lie to get what you want?”

Regional Justice Center began in 2016 as an outlet for Shelton to channel his frustration over the incarceration of his brother, Max. The band’s 2018 debut LP, ‘World Of Inconvenience’, was an uncompromising look at the corruption within the American for-profit prison system. On ‘Crime And Punishment’ (which follows 2019′s split 7″ with Wound Man and ‘Institution’ EP, and last year’s Regional Jurtice Center collaboration with Justice Tripp (Trapped Under Ice and Angel Du$t) and KKK Tattoo single) Shelton continues to take a personal and human approach to exploring broad societal ills this time looking inward at the formative experiences that informed his own trajectory. “I realized part way through writing that I was making a record about my roots and the way they shaped who I am,” Shelton explains. “The first half of the record is about cause and the second half is about consequence.” ‘Crime And Punishment’ directly tackles these nuanced themes that often propel Shelton‘s work: choice, control, vicious cycles, institutions with no regard for the people they impact, and more all across a blistering 13 minutes of crushing hardcore that’s sure to stay with the listener for much longer.

‘Crime And Punishment’ tracklist:
1. Taught To Steal
2. Dust Off
3. Absence
4. Inhuman Joy
5. Sickness On Display
6. Conquest
7. Concrete
8. Solvent
9. Violent Crime
10. …And Punishment

Photo Credit: Mark Palm